More info: Participants can raise money by donating to a silent auction, purchase food at the event or participate in the relay. For more information about Broomfield Relay For Life events or to volunteer or put together a team, email broomfieldrfl@gmail.com or visit broomfieldrelay.com.

A 12-hour walk in Broomfield aims to unify patients, family and friends who have experienced the emotional and physical roller coaster of cancer.

Back for its 15th year in Broomfield, Relay For Life on Friday will celebrate life, remember those who have died after their battles with cancer and raise money to support future cancer research.

Relay For Life gathers teams that spend 12 hours walking around the track at Holy Family High School.

Robin Schwartz, a spokeswoman for the event, said Relay For Life offers an opportunity for people to unify in a singular effort to kick cancer for good, despite the emotional, physical and mental chaos that often affects patients, families and friends.

"We're bringing together a multitude of people fighting many kinds of cancer," she said.

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The 12-hour overnight event reflects the way cancer patients and their loved ones struggle, persevere and support one another, Schwartz said.

While Relay participants walk around the track, the sun sinks and night sets in. Relay teams keep waking, even in the dead of night, as a dedication to those who are experiencing their own dark times, she said.

Then, after 12 hours, "the sun rising represents the end of treatment," she said.

As of press time, 26 teams made up of 241 participants have raised $37,028 for Broomfield's Relay For Life event, according to the Broomfield Relay website.

Those teams include enthusiastic participants from area schools, sports clubs, political groups, businesses and nonprofits.

Teams from Relay For Life in Broomfield last year raised about $87,125 for the American Cancer Society, according to event chair Sara Johnson.

In the local Relay For Life's history, participants have raised more than $1 million.

Many Relay participants are cancer survivors, caregivers or people who are walking to support family members or friends.

Schwartz lost both of her parents to cancer. She volunteers for Relay each year to "give back and go on," she said.

Though cancer can be a scary topic, Relay For Life aims to focus on life, remembrance, prevention and support, she said.

That means plenty of silly and zany events during the 12-hour walk.

One popular event is Mr. Relay, a tongue-in-cheek beauty competition in which men dress like women to try to raise the most money.

Broomfield's police and fire departments are also dedicated to the event. North Metro Fire Rescue District and the Broomfield Police Department face off in an annual tug-of-war.

Yet the most popular part of the relay is the luminaria ceremony, when participants pause at 9 p.m. to light small candles inside white paper lanterns.

The lanterns, decorated by participants with messages to loved ones, serve as a reminder of those who have died from cancer. Participants then walk a few laps in silence.

Relay For Life gives the community a chance to rally around friends and family who are affected by all types of cancer, said Jamie Mager, the area's senior manager for Relay For Life.

At a kickoff fundraising event in January, Mager said she learned about Relay For Life because of a tragic event in her life: Mager lost her mother to cancer 12 years ago, when Mager was just a teenager.

The experience inspired her to participate in Relay For Life, but fighting cancer now has become her career, she said.

"One day, I can thank you all for putting me out of a job," she said during a speech in January.

On Friday, participants will start at 6 p.m. by walking around Holy Family's track. Teams won't stop walking until the relay ends at 6 a.m. with a closing ceremony, at which participants resolve to keep fighting cancer in the year ahead.

Money raised during the event goes toward support programs, medical research, facilities for patients and scholarships for students battling cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.

This year, Relay For Life will take place in about 5,100 places in the United States and 20 other countries in order to "celebrate, remember and fight back," according to a news release from the American Cancer Society.

Relay For Life began in 1985, when one man who walked and ran around a track for 24 hours and raised $27,000 for the American Cancer Society.

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